First attempt at submitting 4 stock images resulted in 4 images rejected for being too soft/lacking definition. Most of what i tend to shoot is landscape, with and without people or animals.

So i've got this Nikon 18-70mm and it's not the sharpest tool in the shed - or at least my copy isn't.

The stock photo outfit suggests not sharpening a previously sharpened image, so i'm wondering; do i kick up the sharpening in the Set Picture Control menu of the camera - I believe it was previously set at 2 or 3 with a maximum of 9 - or should it remain low, then sharpened on the computer.

They also detected interpolation artifacts on one image, and i'm pretty sure that was from cropping and straightening on the computer. Does straightening and or trimming a RAW image in the camera degrade quality and create artifacts? How about rotating?

If you are shooting RAW, you dont need to worry about picture controls. They only affect Jpegs.

Stock sites are notoriously fussy I wouldnt think the 18-70 isnt sharp enough though, just process it carefully, and try and always use a tripod and shoot at the lowest ISO and sharpest aperture, say f8.

Ok what i'm reading is that a maximum in camera sharpness setting of 9 will have no effect on a RAW image, how about sharpening RAW images during editing, can this introduce undesirable artifacts or do those problems only occur when editing JPG?
When it's time to convert the final product to JPG format, how much more editing can you get away with after conversion? Should all editing be completed in RAW to insure highest quality

It's always best to do as much as possible in RAW but you can still do lots and lots more with the image outside of your RAW processor and it won't make any difference to your image quality as long as it's saved properly. What size and quality were your jpegs and if you simply open up the full resolution image from the RAW file are you seeing the artefacts?

_________________"I'm playing all the right notes but not necessarily in the right order" - Eric Morecambe________________________________________D7000 and too many lenses.

Well i don't always notice detailed artifacts but i'm kinda new at examining 100% crops from corner to corner. Neither of these two were denied due to artifacts, just "soft and lacking resolution." A tripod was used...

Difficult to comment without seeing the actual RAW and knowing the standards of the stock site your submitting to but I can't see anything on there that would be caused by slight cropping and straightening. The only thing I would say is on the chess shot my eyes are immediately drawn to the no smoking sign in the middle, there's a halo effect around it that could be deemed as interpolation due to sharpening along with the highlights on the back of the guys head with the sunglasses on and the words in the no turn on red sign.

What site were you submitting to?

_________________"I'm playing all the right notes but not necessarily in the right order" - Eric Morecambe________________________________________D7000 and too many lenses.